Back-to-school a big opportunity for marketers

As parents begin to get kids ready for the back-to-school rush, marketers could be benefiting from last minute items for the classroom. According to a recent study from the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), 34% of Canadians plan to spend at least $400 (Canadian) to get ready for school.

by Kristina Knight

About 37% plan to spend at least $350 on back to school items.

"Back-to-school is a key time of the year for Canadian families. Interestingly, 48 percent of respondents intend to spend the same amount on back-to-school items as last year, while 33 percent intend to spend more," said Roland Merbis, Vice-President, Public Affairs, POLLARA Inc., which conducted the study for the RCC.

The breakdown in spending is fairly routine. Clothing will account for about $190, school supplies (paper, pens, notebooks) will take another $120 and about $80 will be spent on shoes.

As part of the back-to-school spend, Canadian consumers will be buying electronics items this fall. These buyers will spend at least $250 on electronics items. And for college aged students, about $350 will be spent on furnishings for their dorm or apartments.

Primarily, these shoppers are parents (69%), but some kids will be making their own purchases (18%). Another 5% of the purchases will be made by grandparents. For marketers this means the bulk of e-tailing ads can be targeted for adults between the ages of 22 and 40, however, a portion of the ad spend should also be targeted to the kids themselves.